396 DECIDUOUS TREES. 



of life when young, or perhaps unusually fastidious in soils. On 

 the other hand, a planter in Rochester tells us that he has no more 

 difficulty in making it grow than with any other tree. 



The virgilia forms a compact head usually heavier on one side 

 than the other ; and somewhat resembles the horse-chestnut, though 

 its foliage is of finer texture, and its leaves mass in short hori- 

 zontal layers, forming sharper lights and shadows. These shadows 

 are as sharply defined as those of the beech tree, but not so thin, 

 nor so regular. The color of the foliage is remarkable for its 

 purity. The leaves are compound, and a little larger than those 

 of the shell-bark hickory, with from five to eleven alternate, ovate, 

 pointed leaflets. The leaves expand with the hickory, and keep 

 the purity of their color till frosts, when they turn to a warm 

 yellow. 



The flowers appear about the middle of May in large white 

 racemes or clusters of pea-shaped blossoms six to eight inches 

 long, and cover the tree, so that it is then one of the most charming 

 of all trees. It commences to bloom young, and develops its 

 beauty from the start. The bark is so smooth that this feature 

 alone would attract attention to the tree, and suggest the con- 

 clusion which all its other traits confirm, that it is one of the most 

 polished and elegant of lawn trees. It will show to best advantage 

 if planted northward from the point from which it is to be seen 

 most, so that its southern side will be towards the observer, and 

 its northern and western sides can be shielded from wind by ever- 

 greens. A dry, deeply-drained, porous soil is essential ; and also 

 full exposure to the sun, and some protection from wind. 



At the residence of Miss Price, Manheim street, Germantown, 

 Pa., the tree mentioned by Michaux forty years ago as a fine speci- 

 men at that time, is still a hale tree, sixty feet high, and extends 

 its branches over about seventy feet, mostly on one side of the 

 trunk, the other side being shaded and confined by large pines and 

 a lofty cucumber tree that overtops it. It is remarked by those 

 familiar with the tree that there seems an irresistible tendency of 

 the virgilia to grow principally on one side, even when fully ex- 

 posed on all sides to the sun. The place where this virgilia grows 

 is completely exposed to the deepest freezing of the soil ; as the 



